- Create your own campaign
- Start a campus sexual assault centre
- Strengthen or create a campus sexual assault policy
Create your own campaign
Public awareness campaigns teach people about social issues and raise support for action and change. There are already some great campaigns out there, but you can also create your own campaign to address relationship violence and make change on your campus or in your community.
Running a campaign takes dedication and hard work, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Luckily, there are lots of resources online that can help you build your strategy and share your message.
- The Canadian Federation of Students Ontario has a guide on campus campaigns.
- UK Feminista has a great toolkits with quick tips on how to create and run an effective and successful feminist campaign.
- The National Council of Voluntary Organizations, also from the UK, has an excellent in-depth resource with information on creating and running campaigns.
- The Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children has many excellent resources on creating effective public education campaigns to end sexual violence.
If your campus has a Students’ Union, PRIG, or Womens’ Centre, talk to them about support for things like printing or advertising costs.
Start a campus sexual assault centre
If your campus does not have a sexual assault centre, you can organize and start one. This will require working with diverse groups on campus and getting both students and administration on board.
- Work with your campus women’s centre, Students’ Union, Students’ Council, or other campus leadership to lobby campus administration.
- Connect with allies in the community like sexual assault centres, women’s shelters, and family support services.
- Use the resources above to create a public awareness campaign to build student support.
- Reach out to sexual assault centres at other universities and talk to them about how they were established. Recently formed centres in Canada include those at Carleton University in Ottawa and Concordia University in Montreal.
Strengthen or create a campus sexual assault policy
Many campuses have policies about student misconduct around this like cheating, drinking, or fighting. Few have policies about student misconduct around sexual assault. Sexual assault policies can ensure survivors are supported on campus and perpetrators are held accountable.
- The Canadian Federation of Students Ontario has information about creating a sexual assault policy in their Campus Toolkit for Combating Sexual Violence.
- The province of Ontario has a helpful resource called Developing a Response to Sexual Violence: A Resource Guide for Ontario’s Colleges and
Universities - The US-based organization Students Active for Ending Rape has been working with students to develop and implement sexual assault policies on campuses. They have excellent resources that can help you get started including a guide to reforming your campus sexual assault policy.
